The offense came to life for Gustavus in the final period of a showdown with nationally ranked UW-Stevens Point Friday night.
The Gusties scored five times in the final 20 minutes of action, and at the end of the night, they were celebrating a 6-4 win over the fifth-ranked Pointers.
It was a night to remember for Gustavus, which refused to back down with the odds stacked against it.
It trailed 3-1 after two periods before Nate Stone trimmed the lead to 3-2 when he scored a little over six minutes into the third period.
The Pointers went back in front 4-2 on Noah Finstrom’s power play goal before the Gusties stole the momentum.
Grant Ellings, Connor Mahony, Jack Suchy and Stone all scored in the final eight and half minutes of play to lift the Gusties to the victory. The Pointers had pulled their goalie ahead of that final goal by Stone, who scored an empty-netter with 35 seconds remaining.
Gustavus held a 37-23 advantage in shots and Jackson Hjelle rose to the occasion when it mattered most. He made a huge save on a point-blank shot that helped the Gusties avoid a potential overtime. Suchy scored moments later to put Gustavus in front for good a 5-4.
The Gusties (2-1-1) didn’t have the same fortune Saturday in a 4-0 loss to No. 10 UW-Eau Claire.
Saints sweep through weekend
St. Scholastica improved to 3-0 after taking down UW-Stout and No. 5 UW-Stevens Point over the weekend.
In Saturday’s upset win of the Pointers, the reigning regular-season MIAC champion got 23 saves from Jack Bostedt and goals from Sam Olson and Brodie Girod. Girod’s goal off the power play put the Saints up 2-0 in the third.
Nathan Adrian assisted on Girod’s goal and stretched his point streak to three games.
In Friday’s 7-4 win over the Blue Devils, seven different players scored, with Nathan Adrian tallying a goal and two assists. Jacob Seitz came through with a goal and an assist.
Two more wins for the Blugolds
Tenth-ranked UW-Eau Claire topped Saint John’s and Gustavus to keep its record perfect on the year. The Blugolds beat the Johnnies 4-2 on Friday and blanked Gustavus 4-0 on Saturday.
Neither team scored in the first two periods. Everything favored the Blugolds in the third.
Midway through the action, Leo Bacallao punched in a goal, his second of the year, as UW-Eau Claire grabbed the only lead it would need.
Cade Lemmer made it 2-0 and Quinn Green cashed on a 2-on-1 opportunity for a 3-0 advantage. That was his second goal of the year.
Jack Johnston scored the final goal of the night for UW-Eau Claire (3-0), which has scored for or more goals in every game this season.
Max Gutjahr notched the fourth shutout of his career as he made 24 saves.
Against the Johnnies, Gutjahr made 27 saves while Willy Stauber scored the game winner with less than five minutes left in regulation. Kyle Olesiuk capped the scoring with an empty-netter.
Saint Mary’s and Hamline split
The Cardinals and Pipers split their MIAC-opening series over the weekend. Saint Mary’s won the first game 2-0 but Hamline answered with a 3-0 win Saturday.
Matt Sankner stopped 24 shots for his second career shutout and Saint Mary’s scored twice in the second period to help secure the win.
Bud Winer scored midway through the period and Colin Tushie added an insurance goal with less than two minutes left.
The Cardinals (1-3, 1-1) were not as fortunate on Saturday against the Pipers (2-2, 1-1).
Dallas Duckson scored a goal in the second period before Brandon Brandon McNamara and Jacob Wille scored goals in the final two minutes of the third to finish off the victory. Wille’s goal was an empty-netter.
Royals win and tie
Bethel and St. Olaf played to a 1-1 tie in the finale of their MIAC series Saturday. But the Royals ended up earning a shootout win on Jack Brown’s goal.
Bethel (3-0-1, 1-0-1) remains unbeaten on the season. St. Olaf (1-2-1, 0-1-1) while the Oles will have to wait for their first conference victory.
Luke Posner put the Royals up 1-0 near the midway point of the opening period. The Oles tied the game at 1-1 on Cody Sherman’s goal with under six minutes to play in regulation.
Travis Allen tallied 29 saves for the Royals. Lukas Haugen made 20 saves for St. Olaf.
The Royals won Friday’s game 2-1 in overtime thanks to a goal by Tyler Kostelcky as Bethel started 3-0 for the second consecutive year.
Cobbers remain unbeaten
Concordia continued its impressive start to the season with wins over UW-Stout and UW-Superior. The Cobbers are 3-0-1 and their four-game unbeaten streak is their best since the 2005-06 campaign when they started 4-0.
Against the Yellowjackets in a 4-0 win Saturday, Concordia scored four unanswered goals in the third period to secure the victory.
Liam Haslam scored the first goal of the night, which also happened to be his first of the season and the Cobbers rolled from there.
Cole O’Connell, Troy Dahlheimer and Mason Plante added goals to cap the scoring.
Matt Fitzgerald made 22 saves on his way to his first career shutout and owns a 0.97 goals against average on the year.
Concordia opened the weekend with a 6-2 win over Northland and has scored four or more goals in three of its games.
Six different players scored, including Zach Stoner, who got the scoring started with the first goal of his college career. The Cobbers led 3-0 after one and never looked back.
Adrian dominates Marian
The No. 2 ranked Bulldogs swept their first NCHA series of the season, winning 5-1 and 7-2 over the Sabres for their first two wins of the year.
In the final game, Adrian held a 31-27 advantage in shots, with Dershahn Stewart making 25 saves. Adrian (2-1-1, 2-0) scored four goals in the opening period and never looked back. Zachary Heintz, Devyn Orpana, Mathew Rehding and Alec Loveisek all tallied a goal and an assist. Nick Cherkowski had a goal and assist for the Sabres (0-4, 0-2).
Adrian scored three times in the final period of the opener. Rehding led the way with two goals while Jacob Suede dished out two assists as Adrian began its run at another conference title on a high note.
Green Knights edge Foresters
St. Nobert won a pair of one-goal games over Lake Forest this past weekend, earning NCHA victories by the scores of 4-3 in overtime and 3-2 in regulation.
The Green Knights trailed on both nights, including by a 2-1 score on Saturday. On the power play, Gustav Portillo punched in a goal at the 6:33 mark for his first collegiate goal to tie the game. St. Norbert (3-2, 2-0) grabbed the lead for good when T.J, Koufis scored at the 11:01 mark.
Portillo tallied a goal and an assist while Logan Dombrowsky came through with two assists. Hunter Garvey racked up 24 saves.
The Foresters (2-2, 0-2) led 2-0 after one period thanks to goals by Sanom Griffen and Chase Freiermuth.
Lake Forest led St. Norbert 3-1 after two periods before the Green Knights scored twice to tie it and send it to overtime.
Adam Stacho pulled the Green Knights within one midway through the third and then tied the game with 1:54 left in regulation.
Those were his two biggest goals on a night when he recorded a hat trick to go along with an assist. Liam Fraser dished out three assists and Dayton Deics finished with two assists.
Vikings hold own against Raiders
Lawrence came out of its NCHA series against MSOE with a tie and a win. The Vikings and Raiders played to a 2-2 tie Friday before Lawrence won the finale 2-1.
Lawrence is now unbeaten in its last three games.
Saturday’s game was tied at 1-1 going into the third when Cole Schneider came through with a hard shot from above the circles to push the Vikings in front 3-2 at the 3:32 mark.
Lawrence (2-1-1, 1-0-1) was able to hang on from there. Nolan Mahaffey made six of his 29 saves in the third to help seal the deal on the win. Austin Schwab tallied 26 saves for MSOE (2-1-1, 0-1-1).
Lawrence led midway through the second thanks to a goal from Jack Michels before Presto Park tied the game with under two minutes left. Both teams combined to go 0-for-8 on the power play.
In Friday’s tie, MSOE led 1-0 after one and 2-1 after two before the Vikings forced overtime with a goal in the third period. Neither team scored in OT but MSOE did win a shootout 3-1 to gain a point in the standings.
Owen Carlson made 48 saves for the Vikings. Schwab came through with 25 saves for the Raiders.
Trine sweeps Spartans
The Thunder remained unbeaten on the year after closing out an NCHA series against Dubuque with a 5-1 win Saturday. Trine blanked the Spartans 4-0 on Friday.
A four-goal second period put the game out of reach as the Thunder improved to 4-0 overall nad 2-0 in the conference.
Tim Organ and Sam Antenucci fueled the attack, each scoring a goal and dishing out two assists. Kyle Kozma started in goal and racked up 13 saves. James Eng scored the lone goal for Dubuque, which is still searching for its first win. The Spartans, a brand new NCAA team, are 0-4-1 overall and 0-2 in league play.
Michael DiPietra scored twice for Trine in Friday’s win. The Thunder have scored four or more goals three times this season.
